Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams Receive a Few All-NBA Votes, But Not Nearly Enough

The Clippers, infamously, did not have an All Star on their roster this season, even though they won 48 games and made the playoffs in the tough Western Conference. It was therefore highly unlikely that any of their players would make an All-NBA team, even though Danilo Gallinari should have gotten real consideration.

Unsurprisingly, no Clippers made a team, or was even in the discussion for a spot. Gallo get a handful of votes - 4 3rd Team, and 1 2nd Team - and Lou Williams got a single vote for 3rd Team. Gallo received the second most votes of forwards who didn’t make a team, but was about 70 votes away from making it. It’s a shame, but he was never going to get more votes than LeBron James (whose numbers, to be fair, were absolutely monstrous).

The only potential news for the Clippers actually doesn’t come from their own players, but from guys around the league who did or did not make teams. Bradley Beal, the Wizards’ star shooting guard, just missed out on an All-NBA team, meaning he’s not eligible for a supermax extension. This, in turn, makes it somewhat more likely that the Wizards will keep him instead of shopping him this summer. Conversely, Kemba Walker made the 3rd Team, giving the Hornets the chance to offer Walker a massive supermax deal to keep him in Charlotte for the rest of his prime years. The Clippers haven’t really been linked to Walker, but he would have been an option for other teams in the max player market, and he could be off the table now.

At bottom, while Gallinari and Lou both had fantastic seasons, neither of them played at the level that are usually associated with All-NBA players. Nothing speaks more about why the Clippers are pursuing a superstar this summer than the scant attention their players got on the ballot of the most prestigious non-MVP award in the NBA. The Clippers have to hope that next year, when the All-NBA teams are announced, they’ll have a much stronger presence on the ballots.